Sunday, December 31, 2017

Earlier this month, MAD magazine did something it's done regularly every year since the 1950s: it ran its Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation for the year, this one in issue #549. It did so as well at the end of 2016, in #543 — and while that year's form was notable for being the first to include electronic sales, we didn't know something else at the time: that it would be the only title to publish a form in the entire comics industry in 2016.

That's because, to date, no forms with 2016 data have been found in any 2017 cover-dated Archie publications, neither digests nor regular comics. Archie had, like Mad, run forms with something pretty close to clockwork regularity for half a century — but the large number of its series reboots may have impacted what titles require forms, plus many of the digests of late have been renamed or transformed into something else. I have not had confirmation from Archie that the forms are gone for good, but after a year it's possible that it could be a case like Marvel's earlier this decade: that publisher just stopped running them. If the same holds true in 2017, then the 2017 data set is likewise now complete with just one title's form, down from a probably peak of 170 titles running forms in 1961.

It also would wind down a large comics circulation data set just around the time that I've finally collected most of what's out there. (Learn more about Statements of Ownership here, and see some of the data.)

While other researchers and I continue to find oddball titles with Statements (not many would have thought to look in Cool Catfor Black Magic's 1961 data, or in Favorite Funnies, Alan Light's short-lived comic strip magazine, for its sole form), I finish 2017 with full data from 3,907 forms, and at least the average annual sales numbers from 21 more.

Beyond those only 184 suspected forms remain, though that count includes 22 forms which I believe Harvey failed to print any numbers in. Then 35 more would be from magazines Cracked, Comic Relief, and CarToons, with another seven suspected in Shonen Jump — so that's really a maximum of 120 postal bottom line circ numbers that I don't have, mostly in early 1960s Charltons and Harveys. A good number of those simply don't exist.

The last one left: the form from MAD #549.

Specifically to Mad's posting (my thanks to the Grand Comics Database for the form, as I've had trouble finding the physical issue) its sales during this year of its move to California went up, from 133,512 to 138,598 copies, with losses in newsstand sales more than covered by increases in subscriptions. 2016's form included 412 average electronic copies sold per issue; 2017 reported 233.

It remains to be seen if Archie will print filings again, or if another comics publisher will start; if anyone does, we'll track it as well. But with 2017's website redesign mostly complete here, 2018 should be the year the nearly-finished Postal Data Set finally gets updated on here, with a list of what's missing or suspected for each year. Stay tuned!

Thursday, December 28, 2017

I know from experience that people are frequently looking to see the charts for future months before they're released; until now, those requests have gone to a redirect page. But we've seen enough reorders and advance from the past few weeks from Diamond Comic Distributors to be able to collate some information onto pages for December 2017 and January 2018.

The problem with reorders is that they don't synch up exactly with any given shipping month; they're placed all the time and reported weekly, whereas comics orders are reported here monthly. Any given list will have a mix of titles from various months. So while the January page links to some of the more recent advance reorders, some of those items are for months beyond January (as is the case with this week's top advance reorder book, Oblivion Song #1 I don't intend to go any more than a month into the future with these landing pages, so the farthest-out month will simply collate the latest advance reorders.

Non-advance reorder charts, meanwhile, are going to be more relevant to the current month, since the books being reordered are on the shelves already. So the current month's report, December, aggregates links to the most recent reorder reports, while also linking to some advance reorder reports from October and November, because the reported reorders relate to December-shipping books.

It's not a perfect system, but it'll do — and you'll notice that the Top 25s are not being stored on those monthly pages. That's because those pages will be replaced by the estimated sales charts once they become available. The reorder tables become less important then (especially because they don't necessarily represent filled orders) so there's no need to keep them in the permanent archives, though at least for the moment, they will remain visible as blog posts — like this one.

And let's get to it. Here are the reorders and advance orders placed with Diamond Comic Distributors between December 19-25, 2017.

TOP REORDERED ITEMS for December 19-25, 2017 (in dollars)

These are items that have already shipped, but have been receiving additional orders. In most cases below, the items are in stock and so the orders are being filled; occasionally items are back-ordered, so their reorders will enter into the channel once they become available.

These are ranked by invoiced dollars, so retailers' discounts have already applied to the totals before ranking.

And now, a look into the future. These are items that have not yet shipped, but for which the Final Order Deadlines have passed. These reorders, if books are available to fill them, may or may not land in the same shipping month as the books' release weeks, so a book's presence on this chart can mean that an item might make a repeat appearance in Diamond's monthly top-seller charts.

The top advance reorder item was the Oblivion Song by Kirkman and De Felici Collector's Edition from Image, priced at $200; it comes with a statue, a print, and a pin and is limited to 1,000 copies. It's expected to go on sale March 7. The basic comic version led all comics in advance reorders, placing second in dollars overall. IDW'sLights of the Amalou was the top trade paperback, and Boom'sGiant Days Vol. 2 the top hardcover.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Something we've never done before on Comichron is look at the reorder and advance reorder charts released by Diamond Comic Distributors. We do so now, looking at the report released today, December 20, covering orders placed between December 11 and 17.

These charts have been available from Diamond since at least the 1990s, when they appeared in the distributor's Diamond Dateline newsletter; then, as now, they served to supplement for retailers the monthly sales charts by informing on which already-released comics and graphic novels were being ordered again, as well as what books that hadn't been released were generating orders beyond their initial order cutoff dates. Both tables are indicators of customer interest, and suggest what we may see in future monthly sales charts.

While I've got reorder charts going all the way back to the Dateline days, the tables never found their way into my previous magazine work or into Comichron's archives for several reasons. There aren't order indexes, as you see with the monthly charts, suggesting unit counts — but more importantly, the orders don't necessarily equate to filled shipments. The information is more along the lines of the preorder charts which appear on Comichron for years before 2003; it reflects consumer desire as expressed through retailer intent, but it doesn't speak to the number of copies ultimately in circulation. Reorders that are filled, meanwhile, already get reflected in the monthly charts both in the aggregate total, and also when they make the Top 300.

That said, reorder information is certainly of interest, and while it doesn't necessarily fit with our archive tracking the numbers of books in print, it is easily enough conveyed here on the blog. If you're interested in this feature appearing weekly, please let us know in the comments and on social media.

TOP REORDERED ITEMS for December 11-17, 2017 (in dollars)

These are items that have already shipped, but have been receiving additional orders. In most cases below, the items are in stock and so the orders are being filled; occasionally items are back-ordered, so their reorders will enter into the channel once they become available.

These are ranked by invoiced dollars, so retailers' discounts have already applied to the totals before ranking. Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus is the top reordered hardcover; Marvel's Infinity Gauntlet the top-reordered softcover. Batman: White Knight #3, which went on sale Dec. 6, is the top reordered comic book in dollars. The links in the table go to the Diamond information pages for each book.

And now, a look into the future. These are items that have not yet shipped, but for which the Final Order Deadlines have passed. These reorders, if books are available to fill them, may or may not land in the same shipping month as the books' release weeks, so a book's presence on this chart can mean that an item might make a repeat appearance in Diamond's monthly top-seller charts.

The top two items are both copies of Doomsday Clock #3, which releases on January 24; that is by no means a guarantee the book will be Diamond's top seller for that month, but it does suggest high placement, as well as something about its placement in December's lists. The Swamp Thing Winter Special, a $7.99 comic book set for January 31, appears third; remember, this is ranked by invoiced dollars and not units.

Marvel's new printing of its Venom: Lethal Protector trade paperback collection is the top advance-reordered softcover; Punisher Max by Garth Ennis Omnibus Vol. 1 is the top hardcover. Again, the links in the table below go to the Diamond information pages for each book.

Monday, December 18, 2017

DC's Doomsday Clock #1 took both the first and second spots on the new comics sales charts in November, its sales divided almost exactly in half between its lenticular and standards editions. Comichron estimates that North American retailer orders for the two versions combined for nearly 239,000 copies, making the issue one of the year's top three sellers so far. Click to see estimated comics orders for November, as well as the projected top sellers for 2017 thus far.

As reported here Friday, while the Justice Leaguemovie released in November, DC's first outperformance of a Rebirth month from 2016 probably had more to do with Doomsday Clock #1, its continuing Batman-related event, and an expanded slate that took advantage of a five-week month to include several annuals and new series launches. DC outpaced its November 2016 performance by 21%.

It was enough to give the Direct Market its second-best month of 2017, as retailers ordered almost exactly $47 million in comic books, graphic novels, and magazines from Diamond in the month. It would have been better had DC's strength been matched elsewhere — but orders for the market minus DC were down 15% year-over-year, including, unusually, Image, which had been pacing ahead of its 2016 performance all year. The overall market was down 5.8%, the smallest decline since the Rebirth comparative months began.

The average price for all comics in the Top 300 was $3.99, the first time it's ever been exactly that price. It had topped $4 just once, earlier in the year.

Friday, December 15, 2017

Doomsday Clock and its continuing Batman-related event during the Justice League movie's release month combined to give DCits strongest month of 2017 by far in November 2017, outstripping its previous November (which also had five shipping weeks) by 21%. That's a major beat, and a reversal after a long string of comparatives against Rebirth months; we're now into comparisons with the 2016 months where Rebirth issues weren't returnable.

It was enough to give the Direct Market its second-best month of 2017, as retailers ordered almost exactly $47 million in comic books, graphic novels, and magazines from Diamond in the month. It would have been better had DC's strength been matched elsewhere — but orders for the market minus DC were down 15% year-over-year, including, unusually, Image, which had been pacing ahead of its 2016 performance all year. So the overall market was down 5.8% versus the previous November, but that's the lowest decline since we got into the Rebirth comparative months.

It was the first month with no Image graphic novels in the Top 10 since January 2016. It's something that's happened a few times this decade, but not very often. Only 14 new Image GNs were released, against even fewer (9) last November; Image appears to do the bulk of its holiday graphic novel releases earlier in the fall. Still, graphic novels had a good month, up 2.21% over the previous November. With Star Wars: The Last Jedi releasing, the franchise again topped the graphic novel charts with Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 1: Imperial Machine.

So we now have one positive category, with the others down only in single-digits percentage-wise — with the exception of comic book unit sales, which were off 13.28%. Recall, however, that November 2016 was a significant month for Marvel overship volume. We're going to get into some more months like as the winter progresses.

To get back to another five-week November to compare with before 2016, you have to go to November 2011, the strongest autumn month following the New 52 relaunch. November 2017's sales beat those from that month easily, $47 million to $41.28 million. That's an increase of 14% and demonstrates that, while 2017 has been a definite rough patch, major growth took place in the market following the last market lull, and we're still at a higher plateau.

We're looking now at a year between $525 and $530 million in overall comics, graphic novels, and magazines ordered, likely down 9%; comic book units are looking at around 90 million copies for the year, off around 9%. The latter is lower than recent levels, but, again, higher than 2013 and previous years of the decade.

The comparatives:

Dollars

Units

November 2017 Vs. October 2017

Comics

-3.63%

-4.73%

Graphic Novels

19.29%

27.04%

Total Comics/GNs

3.11%

-2.54%

Toys

45.65%

39.93%

November 2017 Vs. November 2016

Comics

-9.45%

-13.28%

Graphic Novels

2.21%

-1.73%

Total Comics/GNs

-5.80%

-12.36%

Toys

-4.88%

-20.66%

Year-To-Date 2017 Vs. Year-To-Date 2016

Comics

-9.89%

-8.38%

Graphic Novels

-9.32%

-11.72%

Total Comics/GNs

-9.72%

-8.65%

Toys

-11.01%

-18.12%

Among the bright spots, Dynamite's orders were up nearly 50% over the same month in the previous year. That was enough to vault the publisher into fifth place. The market shares:

Publisher

Dollar Share

Unit Share

Marvel

34.29%

34.52%

DC

33.71%

39.37%

Image

8.07%

8.26%

IDW

4.04%

3.66%

Dynamite

2.20%

2.15%

Dark Horse

2.08%

1.53%

Boom

2.06%

1.61%

Viz

1.34%

0.53%

Titan

1.31%

1.07%

Oni

1.23%

0.76%

Doomsday Clock's regular and lenticular versions ended 1-2 in the rankings; it's already been reprinted. The promo button appears to have helped, and many of the eBay auctions for the book seem to be going with the button as a package deal. The top-selling comics:

The final estimates will be online here Monday. In the meantime, don't spoil the movie for anyone!Comichron founder John Jackson Miller has tracked the comics industry for more than 20 years, including a decade editing the industry's retail trade magazine; he is the author of several guides to comics, as well as more than a hundred comic books for various franchises.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

For purposes of our retroactive tracking, here are reorders and advance orders placed with Diamond Comic Distributors between December 5 and 11, 2017.

TOP REORDERED ITEMS for December 5-11, 2017 (in dollars)

These are items that have already shipped, but have been receiving additional orders. In most cases below, the items are in stock and so the orders are being filled; occasionally items are back-ordered, so their reorders will enter into the channel once they become available.

These are ranked by invoiced dollars, so retailers' discounts have already applied to the totals before ranking. Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus is the top reordered hardcover; Marvel's Infinity Gauntlet the top-reordered softcover. Doomsday Clock#1, which went on sale in November, is the top reordered comic book in dollars. The links in the table go to the Diamond information pages for each book.

And now, a look into the future. These are items that have not yet shipped, but for which the Final Order Deadlines have passed. These reorders, if books are available to fill them, may or may not land in the same shipping month as the books' release weeks, so a book's presence on this chart can mean that an item might make a repeat appearance in Diamond's monthly top-seller charts.

The top comic is the Bill Sienkiewicz cover of Walking Dead #175, a Jan. 3-slated release. Remember, this is ranked by invoiced dollars and not units, so its placement this high is significant.

The top hardcover is Marvel's Black Panther Art of the Movie Slipcase.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

For purposes of our retroactive tracking, here are reorders and advance orders placed with Diamond Comic Distributors between November 27 and December 4, 2017.

TOP REORDERED ITEMS for November 27-December 4, 2017 (in dollars)

These are items that have already shipped, but have been receiving additional orders. In most cases below, the items are in stock and so the orders are being filled; occasionally items are back-ordered, so their reorders will enter into the channel once they become available.

These are ranked by invoiced dollars, so retailers' discounts have already applied to the totals before ranking.

The lenticular version of DC's Doomsday Clock #1, which went on sale Nov. 22, is the top reordered comic book.

The links in the table go to the Diamond information pages for each book.

TOP ADVANCE REORDERED ITEMS for November 27-December 4, 2017(in dollars)

And now, a look into the future. These are items that have not yet shipped, but for which the Final Order Deadlines have passed. These reorders, if books are available to fill them, may or may not land in the same shipping month as the books' release weeks, so a book's presence on this chart can mean that an item might make a repeat appearance in Diamond's monthly top-seller charts.

The top comic is the second printing of Batman Annual #2, which is expected to reach stores Jan. 3. Remember, this is ranked by invoiced dollars and not units.

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